


Reunion

by sharkinterviewee



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Canonical Character Death, Character Study, Cuddling & Snuggling, Developing Relationship, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Processing, F/M, Flashbacks, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Gallows Humor, I mean I haven't even seen the trailer yet, Late Night Conversations, Mutual comforting, Norse Mythology - Freeform, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), References to Norse Religion & Lore, Reunions, Romance, Team Thor/Team Darryl references, Touchy-Feely, Valkyries, emotional issues, no spoilers for endgame, this is definitely going to be canon divergent by the end of this month
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-23
Updated: 2019-04-23
Packaged: 2020-01-24 08:43:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18567877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sharkinterviewee/pseuds/sharkinterviewee
Summary: “Hey! It’s me! It’s really me! I swear!” He held his hands up in defense, but that only seemed to anger her more.“I know it’s you! That’s why I’m hitting you!”She took another swing at him that he easily blocked- either she was too sleep deprived to at least hit him well, or she wasn’t trying as much as she wanted to seem.They’d sparred before, and this wasn’t even close to the full force of the Valkyrie. Her movements were sloppy in a way she’d scolded him for when they had trained together following Ragnarok (“You’re too open. When you swing, you swing wildly, and you make so much of yourself a target. You need to keep your hands up, when you punch, pull back, keep your shoulders tucked. It’s like you’re expecting your opponents not to hit back. Sure, you’re fine if you knock them out on the first punch, anything other than that, your technique leaves you wide open and your ribs prime for kicking,” she informed him, smirking while he was still struggling to breathe evenly again.)“Aren’t you glad I’m alive?” Thor asked, blocking an elbow strike and deflecting the punch that followed. He caught her wrist, wrapped his hand around it before she could pull it back (“You’re too open”)





	Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> I really wanted to get this out before EG came out, so here it is

It all came crashing down so quickly.

Aboard the Statesman, the trek to earth wasn't easy, especially not with a huddled mass of traumatized refugees, but they were... surviving, which was really all anyone could ask of them. Even that felt like a feat of will and perseverance most days, but everyone on board had lost friends, family, their whole planet decimated before their eyes- their home. But Asgardians were strong, so they pushed on. Just when all the horror they'd witnessed under Hela had ebbed from their minds, and people were starting to smile again, to laugh again, even in the face of all that tragedy- it seemed like things were finally starting to get better, or at least more bearable. It really seemed like they were going to make it.

And then, just like that, it was all gone.

It happened so quickly, the slaughter, the massacre with no warning. It took all of them together to merely just hold back one of Thanos's underlings while others swept through the decks, culling the ship with no hesitation or mercy. All while the creature who looked like death itself preached the insane message of his master, brushing back Thor with the wave of his hand, sending Hulk flying through the walls like their concentrated efforts were mere annoyances. Like it was nothing.

Thor knew he wouldn't be making it out of this alive. The moment he heard Thanos's proclamation, Thor knew he wouldn't be making it out alive.

According to the preacher, the deaths were half, fair and completely random, but that wasn't true.

He knew that he and Loki were going to die- they were too powerful to let live. Heimdall and the Hulk as well- none of them would be walking out of this.

Valkyrie was the only one left, the only person he trusted. When Thanos attacked their ship and slaughtered their people, he knew what was left would be in safe hands. Asgard would be safe with her. She would protect them.

When he heard Thanos’s proclamation of truly equal, random killing, Thor knew he was going to die without a doubt.

But it wasn't about him. It wasn't about any of them. It was about the people.

He knew she’d keep them safe.

* * *

There's no warning, no phone call ahead, no email (not that he knew how to send one). Not even a raven.

It took Thor some time to find them, the remainder of their people. She had found them a place to settle down. Of course she had. She was the Valkyrie.

* * *

It was the middle of the night when Thor finally made it to their settlement. He knew he should wait until morning, but he had to see her. It had been six months.

Half the universe had ended with the snap of the fingers, and then restored with a hell of a lot more trouble, and it's been six months since he’d seen her face, and he couldn't wait.

It wasn't hard to tell which room was hers, what with the hastily scrawled Valkyrie rune in white chalk on the door.

He was quiet, not wanting to disturb her sleep- all he wanted was to see her face again, make sure she was still okay. He had seen so much death lately, and all he wanted was to see her face.

Once he slipped past her door, though, and eased it shut behind him, his head was immediately drawn to the billowing curtains on the other side of the room, the wind pouring in from the window that really shouldn't be open on a night as cold as this one.

When he turned his head to face forward again he was met with the tip of a spindly blade hovering just centimeters in front of his left eye. His new left eye.

It was only thanks to the augmented technology in it that he could see who had him staring down the tip of the blade, it was far too dark to identify the wielder otherwise. His... original eye couldn't make out a thing.

“I don't take kindly to intruders. One more step and you'll be out an eye. Identify yourself. Who are you and what are you doing in my room,” Valkyrie emphasized her demand with a slight jab of her weapon, just another centimeter, but it was far too close for comfort, and made it seem like she wasn't too keen on keeping her promise of waiting for him to make another move before she followed through on her threat. He couldn't make out her facial expression, but her voice was a low growl, edges still rough with sleep. It was good to hear her voice again.

Thor was standing in almost complete shadow, and he had half a mind to wonder how she could even see him. Maybe his eyes reflected the starlight pouring in from the window.

“Please don't,” he chuckled, pushing the tip of her sword away with two fingers. “I only just got this one back. I’d hate to have to find another replacement.”

Her sword wavered in the air at the sound of his voice, but she easily let it be pushed aside as he stepped out of the shadows.

“You're back,” she said softly, finally lowering her weapon. She looked him over like she still wasn't sure if it was him, but so plainly wanted to believe it so, whether it was a trick or a figment of her imagination.

And she looked very, very tired.

“I am,” Thor said in answer to her unspoken question. “Sorry it took so long. Kind of failed saving the universe the first time around. Didn't think I’d even make it that far, though. Didn't think I’d make it off the Statesman. Saving the universe didn't work so well the first time. Had to reset it. Then I had to find you. Sorry it took so long.”

He heard more than saw her sword clattering to the floor after she dropped it. When she took a step forward, moved closer to him, Thor expected a hug, or maybe even a welcome home kiss if the gods were smiling down on him.

When she stepped closer to him, he didn’t expect a punch to the jaw. Which was exactly what he got.

His head whipped back from the force, and Thor let out a shout, mostly from surprise, and a slight bit of pain.

“Hey! It’s me! It’s really me! I swear!” He held his hands up in a defensive posture, but that only seemed to anger her more.

“I know it’s you! That’s why I’m hitting you!”

Brunnhilde took another swing at him that he easily blocked- either she was too sleep deprived to at least hit him well, or she wasn’t trying as much as she wanted to seem.

They’d sparred before, and this definitely wasn’t even close to the full force of the Valkyrie. Still enough to hurt, though. Her movements were sloppy in a way _she’d_ scolded him for when they had trained together following Ragnarok (“ _You’re too open, your majesty,” she informed him, with her trademark mocking tone at his title. Thor didn’t really mind. The teasing tone. He definitely minded the kick to the ribs he just got- it felt like they’d been punted_ _ **into**_ _him. “When you swing, you swing wildly, and you make so much of yourself a target. You need to keep your hands up, when you punch, pull back, keep your shoulders tucked. It’s like you’re expecting your opponents not to hit back. Sure, you’re fine if you knock them out on the first punch, anything other than that, your technique leaves you wide open and your ribs prime for kicking,” she informed him, smirking while he was still struggling to breathe evenly again.)_

It was the same too open critique she’d criticized him for months ago, the one that she said was fighting like he was expecting his opponents not to hit back. Her swings left _her_ wide open, now.

Though, if she knew it was him, then she also knew he wouldn’t hit back. So maybe the too open fighting made sense right now.

“Aren’t you glad I’m alive?” Thor asked, blocking an elbow strike and deflecting the punch that followed. He caught her wrist, wrapped his hand around it before she could pull it back (“ _You’re too open”_ )

“Of course I’m glad you’re alive,” she growled, sounding much more mad than glad. Her lips picked up into a snarl as she glowered at him. “I’m still pissed at you for making me leave you behind!” Valkyrie shouted, her knee connecting with his torso in a way that knocked the breath out of him. She violently ripped her wrist from his grasp, and not even a second had gone by before she was tackling him to the ground.

Thor landed with a thud, the back of his head not quite agreeing with the hard reality of the floor. Valkyrie, of course, landed on top of him, somehow even harder. Probably cause of something like momentum. Something that he definitely didn’t care about with the sharp pain at the base of his skull, his freshly kneed torso, and the last surviving Valkyrie on top of him at the moment, looking down with murder in her eyes.

Thor grimaced in pain, wanting to automatically rub the back of his head, but resisting the urge as he wasn’t certain if it was a good idea for him to lift his hands at the moment.

Despite having him completely subdued and beneath her, and his face being prime real estate for her fists, she didn’t hit him now that she had pinned to the mat, so to speak.

No, she just looked at him, her nostrils flaring, eyes large and wild, breathing heavy, her chest heaving from her half hearted assault.

She still had one fist raised and pulled back like she was about to punch him, as she straddled his chest, looking like she was about to pound his face into the floor.

But he knew better than that. He could see her hand shaking.

Thor slowly raised his hand to hers, unfurled her fingers, and intertwined them with his.

“I’m sorry,” he said again, his voice softer, dipped down to something low and soothing. “I deserved that.”

“Yes, you did.”

That made him chuckle, and at the sound, she squeezed his fingers tighter. Almost imperceptibly, and maybe even subconsciously, but she definitely squeezed tighter as her shoulders dropped a little, almost in relief, at the sound of his light and quiet laughter.

He knew there was much to be said, much that he didn’t want to say, much that he wished he didn’t have to say, but none of those were what was filling his thoughts at the moment.

“I can offer you excuses and explanations in the morning. Tonight- you have no idea how good it is to see your face again,” he said, cupping her cheek with his free hand.

All her anger dissipated then, just slipping out of her. Her expression softened and Valkyrie closed her eyes, pressing into his palm.

Then she just sort of collapsed on top of him, burying her face in the crook of his neck. Thor wrapped his arms around her, stroking her hair while she breathed him in.

“I thought you were dead,” she whispered so quietly, like saying it out loud might make it true, and she didn't want anyone to overhear the words she had been so afraid of.

Thor swallowed, his throat thick. “So did I, for a time.”

“Did any of the others…?” she was hesitant to even ask the question. She was pretty sure she already knew the answer.

Thor didn’t answer for the longest time, and she didn’t push him. She just… stayed with him. It wasn’t an unfamiliar thing for them. To be silent when one of them needed the other’s company (to be honest, it was usually her that needed the whole drinking in silence within close proximity when needing something like comfort).

Eventually Thor shook his head, swallowing thickly. “Just me,” he said, his voice hoarse. “Banner- Hulk, he made it back to earth, helped with the whole resetting the universe thing. But I was the only… just me… off that ship. Barely even then. But everyone else is… gone.”

“Loki?”

Thor flinched at the name, and that was answer enough.

“I’m sorry,” Brunhilde whispered, rubbing his arm.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” he said finally, because that was the only true thing he could say right now without breaking. Everything else was too fresh for this middle of the night reunion.

* * *

“I thought you were dead,” Valkyrie said, stroking his face like an apparition, the words _I can’t believe you’re alive_ only unspoken on her lips. They had moved onto her bed since the floor where she tackled him wasn’t the most comfortable place to spend the rest of the night. Her single bed made for admittedly close quarters, but neither of them really minded. They both preferred it, if the touching and quite open cuddling between the two of them was anything to go by.

And she wasn’t willing to let go of him. Not just yet.

She’d need at least another six hours of solid physical contact before she’d even consider letting go of his hand, much less letting him out of her sight.

He felt the same way.

“Who? Me?” Thor replied with false levity. “I can’t die without my Valkyrie beside me and there to guide me to Valhalla. As far as I’m concerned, I’m still under strict orders from you to not die. That still hasn’t been revoked. I’m probably unkillable.”

That made her laugh. It was weak, a little broken, but not forced. A true laugh.

It felt like the biggest victory he’d had in awhile.

* * *

“You made me leave you behind,” she said quietly, her jaw tensing at the memory. “I hate you for doing that. You made me leave you behind.”

Thor exhaled. He knew this was coming, and was hoping it would wait until morning. Forced her to leave him behind, really.

The deaths all happened so quickly. It was a matter of minutes before half their ship had been killed.

It was all so fast. And he just shut the door behind her.

The people needed her more than he did. Though he wanted her. He wanted her by his side every second.

“I thought we agreed a long time ago that the people were what mattered,” Thor finally said. “Not either of us.”

“I still hate you for it,” she said, without any venom that statement would usually contain.

* * *

_Once Thanos and his warriors got on board, it was over. It was over so **quick**. In the blink of an eye._

_In reality, it probably took several minutes. For them to make their way through all the levels of the ship and killing half of its occupants. But when half of your people were slaughtered- just stopped existing so quickly- it felt like the blink of an eye. A snap of the fingers._

_Even as they loaded survivors on an escape vessel, it was already finished. The walls bathed in blood, half the ship had been decimated in mere minutes. The people left frightened and traumatized, running to the safety of the smaller ship, being loaded on board by he and Valkyrie. Passengers turned survivors, again._

_The two of them quickly got everyone they could onboard the vessels, their first priority being the survivors and getting them off of the statesman._

_Half the ship had been slaughtered by Thanos, now they were frantically getting the survivors on board the smaller life vessel._

_And the worst part was… it felt like he was **letting** them._

_As Thor and Valkyrie passed off smaller children to each other to carry them to the ship, telling the adults and older ones to come and to run… it felt like Thanos was **letting** them evacuate the survivors._

_It had to be it. They had killed half the people in minutes, and now there was a sudden reprieve in their mindless culling, and as he worked to get the survivors on board the smaller ship, he had a feeling that Thanos knew and he was **letting** the survivors escape._

_For now. Thor didn't want to wait for him to change his mind._

_He wasn't an idiot- Loki and the Hulk couldn't be holding him off this long if Thanos and his fighters didn't **want** them to. They were to strong and powerful- they had murdered half of everyone on board, and the four of them had been powerless to stop them. Even fighting together, they hadn't been able to stop them- merely hold off one of them, while Thanos’s other underlings swept through every level of the ship. So much blood was shed so quickly._

_He knew they were still on board- though he and Valkyrie hadn't encountered one of them yet after they started evacuating the survivors. There was no way the Hulk and Loki had been able to stop all of them, whenever all four of them had barely managed to delay **one** of the men preaching his master's name._

_The killing only stopped because Thanos wanted it to. And with every person they loaded on the ship, the feeling that Thanos was letting them evacuate the survivors sunk in deeper and deeper._

_He didn't have time to question it though._

_Asgard didn't have time._

_Thor also knew he wouldn't be going with them. Whoever this madman Thanos was, he came here for a reason. Thor was going to get his people to safety. He that Thanos wouldn't hesitate to wipe out them all, despite what his fighter was spouting off about half, if he felt like it._

_Maybe it was a game._

_After they finished loading the survivors, Thor would stay and fight, they all would, trying to buy their people enough time to get as far away as they could._

_Thor heralded one of the last groups of refugees up the ramp of the ship, trying to get them in as quickly as possible. After those few made their way inside the vessel, they left the hall empty, and quiet, an echoing sort of foreboding from the hushed sounds of the survivors on board and the thrumming **emptiness** of the steel walls that, once flush with frightened people, now contained only Heimdall and himself. Somehow, even in the chaos of it all- how the statesman was badly damaged, falling apart, all the fire blazing through the evacuation- it seemed muted. Too empty. Like all the sounds of disaster were just white noise around him._

_He only had a moment to register the sound of racing footsteps before Brunnhilde was shoving past him with a babe bundled up in her arms- one too young to even leave the crib. She had planned on handing it off to one of the boarding survivors, but the hall was empty aside from Thor and Heimdall, so she couldn't pass it to a refugee like she had planned on before going back for more survivors. She didn't even stop, though. Just muttered “Typical,” at having to carry the crying infant into the vessel. Knowing she'd have to run up the ramp and into the main room where all the survivors were gathered to hand it off to an adult._

_With a surreal weight Thor watched her move up the ramp until she disappeared from his sight._

“ _That's everyone,” Heimdall said, with the child now onboard. The words 'everyone that has a chance at surviving' were unspoken, but understood._

_Then- “They're coming. Two of them on the upper deck. They won't be long,” Heimdall warned him, his head raised and turned towards the left corridor, towards the enemies that couldn't escape his perception. Though the advantage Heimdall's senses gave them with advanced knowledge of their approaching enemies movements wasn't enough to shift the fight and give them the upperhand. They both knew that._

_Thor looked up, following Heimdall's line of sight, like the two adversaries would be coming straight down from the bulkhead, though he knew that it was only because of Heimdall's senses that he could view them on one of the upper floors. Quickly approaching. They were fast._

_Thor exhaled, tearing his eyes away from the ceiling, looking back to the ship. The ramp was still open._

_In two seconds Thor was contacting the pilot through the ship's communication device, ordering them to close the hatch and take off._

_Heimdall gave him a knowing look as the thrusters lifted and moved into the airlock gate, sectioned off until a ship was ready for take off, and then sealed off the passage way behind them and blasted off into space. The whole process took entirely too long, probably only a matter of seconds, but the whole time Thor could hear his heartbeat thrumming in his ears, just waiting, waiting, waiting for them to make it out, they had to make it out. It wasn't until he saw the ship blanketed by a backdrop of stars, growing ever smaller, further and further away that he was able to breathe again._

“ _She’s not going to be happy with you,” Heimdall said with something like gallows humor as they looked through the window, watched it until it disappeared into a speck in the depths of space._

_Thor smiled sadly. “I know. She’ll get over it,” he started to say, but then revised his statement, because she’d get over the anger eventually, maybe not so much the rest of it. “She’ll understand. Once she's done cursing my name every way she can imagine. They need her. She’ll keep them safe. If we’re not able to give them enough time.... They need Asgard’s greatest warrior and the last of the Valkyrie to protect them. She's the only one who can. She's just a normal Asgardian. I doubt whoever this Thanos is is here because of the bifrost or your senses, but I doubt he lets anything more powerful than the average survive. I'm afraid that rules us four out. Sorry,” he shrugged, knowing they were both heading off to death. There wasn't any use in hiding from the reality._

“ _It will be my honor to make my last stand with you, my king,” Heimdall bowed his head, a smile at his lips with more of that gallows humor, and acceptance, knowing what end awaited them._

“ _And I as well, old friend,” Thor said, clapping him on the shoulder. And they turned off to meet death together._

* * *

“Why did you do it?” She asked the question that had been stuck with her since the day she last saw him. “Don’t give me any nonsense about thinking that I wouldn’t have gone with the people if you hadn't. Cause I’ve already done that. So don’t give me some nonsense about thinking I would insist on staying with you and fighting and leaving the people to fend for themselves if you hadn’t closed the doors and sent the ship off. You know I wouldn’t’ve, because I already made that choice back on Asgard, during ragnarok. I already did exactly that. Just a few kisses wouldn’t have changed that choice. To save the people instead of a sentimental last stand with you. So why did you do it?”

She’d spent a lot of her life angry at things- she’d spent _most_ of her life being angry. And try as she might to understand his decision, she just _couldn’t_. It was a hard thing to swallow. Being denied the right to say goodbye. When things were ending all around them, she thought she’d at least get that. She’d already lost a love without getting to say goodbye to her, and she spent centuries angry at every choice that led up to it, and trying to numb the pain that came when the anger ran out of places to go, and the alcohol left her with still too much to feel.

The anger felt better than the grief- better than actually feeling the loss.

Trying to drown herself with the liquor for centuries on Sakaar, angry and drunk and so goddamned angry. Because it wasn’t fair. She never got to say goodbye. She was dead before her body hit the ground.

When the engine was failing, sparks were flying, things were crashing, people were dying- when the world was ending all around them…

Brunhilde thought she was going to get to say goodbye this time.

“I don’t really have a good reason. All that feels like it happened a lifetime ago. I don’t know. Fear. Panic. Every shade between the two. Wasn’t like there was a lot of time left to think anyway. I’d probably put fear as my biggest motivator for every choice I made in that half hour period,” Thor admitted. He knew it wasn’t enough, and she deserved much more from him, but he wasn’t going to lie to her. He didn’t have a good answer. This was all he had. “Terror and uncertainty lead to many regrettable decisions. Though, of everything that happened that day, I think that was probably my least regrettable decision. As awful as it was. You kept them safe, and got them here. Like I knew you would. Though, in defense of what you just said, you did just try to beat me up for ‘making you leave me behind’, so…”

Valkyrie snorted in derision. “You know I wasn’t actually trying.”

He had to give her that.

“Besides,” she started, her voice lowered with a greater gravity. “It was… how you did it. I… I didn’t get to say goodbye.”

From all the pain in her voice, he felt the same.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized roughly, his voice hoarse and weak. “I’m truly sorry.”

Thor wrapped her in his arms, and she went willingly, moved into him, moved closer. Tangled herself up in his limbs.

He kissed her on the forehead. It was the first time he’d kissed her in six months.

This kiss on the forehead was the fourth kiss they’d shared at all, even.

They hadn’t had nearly enough time together before the attack had happened.

* * *

“I thought it might be you,” she told him later, yawning as exhaustion dwindled down on both of them. Neither of them seemed quite ready to fall asleep yet. “You’re the only one bold enough to dare sneak into my bedchambers in the middle of the night. But then I saw two eyes in the dark. Do I ever get to hear that story?”

“In the morning,” he promised.

“I'll be holding you to that.”

“I know you will.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> I am so sorry about the raven thing at the beginning, it was just the dumbest reference to the Team Thor extras
> 
> The joke he makes about being under strict orders from her to not die and probably being unkillable is based on how in Norse mythology, Valkyries chose who lived and who died in battle, and then took the ones they picked to die to Valhalla


End file.
